Stay current on Willamette Falls

Check here for the latest updates on project design and construction, recaps of public meetings, and the latest news and events.

The Willamette Falls Legacy Project, set to break ground on the public riverwalk at Willamette Falls next year, has hired AECOM and Willamette CRA to develop a plan that will be used during riverwalk construction when historic and cultural resources are discovered at the Legacy Project site.

Late last year, the Willamette Falls Legacy Project team issued a request for proposals to transform a conceptual design for the first phase of the Willamette Falls riverwalk into detailed permitting and construction drawings, as well as manage construction. Metro, on behalf of the Willamette Falls Legacy Project, is pleased to announce Otak has been

UPDATE: RFP 3590, Design and Planning Services, Willamette Falls Project has been posted on ORPIN.
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A search is about to begin for the team to advance the riverwalk at Willamette Falls in downtown Oregon City – envisioned as the catalyst for a signature Oregon destination along the banks of the Willamette River. Metro, one of four public partners of the Willamette Falls Legacy Project, will be issuing a request for proposals this fall to transform a conceptual design for the first phase of the Willamette Falls riverwalk into detailed permitting and construction drawings.

In early 2018–over two weekends–eight people with connections to Willamette Falls were transformed into storytellers when Sue Mach and other members of the Clackamas Community College English faculty facilitated a digital storytelling workshop. These are their stories.

On Friday, June 1 and Saturday, June 2, Willamette Falls Legacy Project staff and volunteers welcomed more than two hundred members of the public on tours of the former Blue Heron paper mill site. Participants who were quick enough to claim a ticket, meandered through the site starting at the typically locked gate on historic Main Street.

Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can’t remember who we are or why we’re here.
-Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

Do you have a Willamette Falls story to tell? This winter and spring, Clackamas Community College, Rediscover the Falls and the Willamette Falls Legacy Project invite you join one of two three-day digital storytelling workshops dedicated to stories about the Falls.

Andrew Mason has been selected as the first full-time executive director for Rediscover the Falls (RTF), the nonprofit organization created in 2015 to raise resources and advocate for the revitalization of the former Blue Heron paper mill site in Oregon City and the riverwalk experience.

Progress was made earlier this week on bringing a public riverwalk at Willamette Falls one step closer to reality. Willamette Falls Legacy Project staff received Falls Legacy LLC’s signatures on multiple permit applications that would allow the riverwalk project to move into the permitting phase. Elected officials from Oregon City, Clackamas County, Metro and the State of Oregon are cautiously optimistic that we will be able to submit permit applications after we receive the funds due to the project from Falls Legacy LLC.

The next Willamette Falls Legacy Project Partners Group quarterly meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, December 6, from 1:15 – 3:00 p.m. at the Metro Regional Center Council Chambers. 600 NE Grand Ave. Portland, OR 97232 This meeting is open to the public. Agenda available here. A Willamette Falls Legacy Project Partners Group executive session

In early 2015, the Willamette Falls Legacy Project Partners (Oregon City, Clackamas County, Metro and the State of Oregon) initiated a public master planning process for the Willamette Falls riverwalk. The final master plan aims to provide a long-term vision that will guide future development and public use of the riverwalk. Throughout the planning process,

The Willamette Falls Legacy Project team and volunteers participated in Willamette Riverkeepers’ Great Willamette Clean Up earlier this month. Volunteers paddled from Jon Storm Park in Oregon City to Willamette Falls, picking up trash from riverbanks along the way. We hope to participate again in 2018!

The Willamette Falls Legacy Project is committed to transparency and responsibly delivering on Oregonians’ investments and vision to create a public riverwalk at Willamette Falls. Together as partners, Oregon City, Clackamas County, Metro and the State of Oregon share the project’s four core values of: economic redevelopment, historic and cultural interpretation, public access and healthy habitat.

The next Willamette Falls Legacy Project Partners Group meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 20, from 9:30 – 10:00 a.m. at the Tumwater Ballroom. 211 Tumwater Dr. Oregon City, OR 97045 This meeting is open to the public. Agenda available here. A Willamette Falls Legacy Project Partners Group executive session is scheduled for Wednesday, September

The Willamette Falls Legacy Project was extremely honored to have members of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation join us June 3 when we unveiled the design concept for a future riverwalk. The project has diligently been reaching out to and coordinating with these tribes since 2013,

The riverwalk design, just unveiled last month, includes a pedestrian bridge over Highway 99E and the railroad tracks to the McLoughlin Promenade. The McLoughlin-Canemah Trail Plan project aims to connect the riverwalk and McLoughlin Promenade to Old Canemah Park and Canemah Children’s Park with a shared use trail. The City won a grant from Metro’s

After years of planning and countless rounds of community input, the design for a public riverwalk alongside the Willamette River leading to Willamette Falls in Oregon City is complete. Cut off from public access for over a century, Willamette Falls is the second largest waterfall by volume in North America. The riverwalk design will reveal a

The riverwalk design team conducted an existing conditions investigation of the old Blue Heron mill site and PGE dam and documented their work in a report that describes the various areas and structures on the site. The report provides initial thoughts on the opportunities that each piece presents for the riverwalk experience.

After months of careful deliberation, including numerous meetings and discussions with project partners, riverwalk stakeholders, whitewater park supporters and community members, project staff has made its recommendation on the proposal to the Willamette Falls Legacy Partners Group, which is responsible for making major project decisions.

Hundreds of people visited the Willamette Falls Legacy Project booth at downtown Oregon City’s First City Celebration on July 23. Project staff, designers and volunteers from the friends group were on hand to talk with visitors, answer questions and seek community input on seasonal activities.

Thank you to all who came to see us at the First City Celebration! Staff, designers and volunteers truly enjoyed meeting with people who stopped by to ask questions, create artwork for our lamprey art wall, show their support — and give us their input for riverwalk activities during each of the four seasons.

Results from an archaeological investigation of the foundation of the Oregon City Woolen Mills will be presented next month after years of obscurity beneath the complex layers of human innovation. Oregon City commissioned a two-week archaeological investigation, beginning August 10, at the historic foundation of the Oregon City Woolen Mill located on the former Blue Heron property.

Over 400 people attended our event last night to meet the Riverwalk designers! We saw inspiring presentations and listened to a thought-provoking discussion from our Riverwalk team from Portland’s Mayer/Reed Landscape Architecture, Oslo/New York-based Snøhetta, and Vancouver, BC’s DIALOG.

Join us for the kickoff event of the Riverwalk design process! Show your love for the project, meet the designers, mingle with other community champions and learn more about how you can get involved in the upcoming process that will transform the most amazing place we don’t visit into a new Oregon landmark. Presented

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The Willamette Falls Legacy Project is a partnership of Oregon City, Clackamas County, Metro and the State of Oregon, with the support and participation of the site’s private owners, stakeholders and thousands of community members. For more information, email [email protected]